Second creature

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

! DEPARTilfiNT OF ARCHAEOLOGY

CENTRAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL
LIBRARY

I Class_

Call Nft _

aU-A. 7l».

second

creature

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hi the marning of the world
Briihma made Man,
but being diitsatisfied and
leanltng to do better,
be started upon

. . a second creature: Woman,

the second creature ,„5f-

a handful of earth and
something from the sky,
he took the wild wind and
water from a quiet stream,
he took the mango and the rnehn,
the pomegranate,
the grape and the fig,
he took a slender tree and
the coloured parrot that
screeched in its topmost branches,
he took something from a sparrow,
some part of a pigeon
and of a peahen,

he took the gentle heart of a lamb,
the wild deer's grace and
the tiger's temper —
these and the many other
sweet and wild things.

Brahma took and mingled
with care to make this
second creature.

And when his labour of
love was done,

Brahma sat back,
and imiled and smiled..

^"^Second

Creature

ii 4 P H O T () a R A P 1-1 S li Y

Sunil

Janah

FOREA\ORD KIM CKRiSTEN

,, — _ = --

Ja>vi

Signet Press Calcutta ^

fir^t Edition March

Fu bit shed by

Dilip Kumar Gupta

The Signet Press

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Calcutta 20

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All Rights Reserved

Repraduction in part or full forbidden

Price Rupees Twelve

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LI»ItA ^ .\'K^v HKmn.
Aufi. i' u. . J|

Dnie.

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a iwjrd from

the photographer

Tmes f. 1 ’I c t i; k e s were takai during four years of almost couti-
ntiotis uan<lei'ing tluoughout liulia. While Ijiiratlly sptrakiiig, my subject was
the 1 Julian p«>[jlt% my empliasis hail Ih'cu on the distressing crmdllions of
their lives* their poverty and wretthcftliiCAs and the it rejjcaiedly manifest revolt
against it.

That out of juy assignnteiiis of famines, epidemics and slum conditions.
I eonld ctdleci so many |>ictuies of smiling, hand«»me women i.s not how*
ever emii’fly strange, tven in the midst of all these a 'pretty gil l' U diffteuli
to resist. It is veassin ing to hnd her sf» often. .She heartens a discooitiged and
a poor people insidiously taught by religion and custom to turn away
from all jcjy. I have phologra]ilied her because she lejnesents the youth,
thann and vitality which are not yet tpiiie deslioyed in such a jx'ople. and
svhich apjjear as Irrepiessibly as the hunger I had gone to portray.

These women 1)clong to the |>uoi'est masses of India. I base found iliern
among coir-workers on the Malabar eoa.st, in the aboriginal Itighlauds and
the jimglcii of Assam atid in tlic mountains of Kashmir. I have found them
too in our plains. In wheat and paddy fields and fishcrnien s huts and

ill ihc squalHl icncmcnti of Calc utia, Dellii and Bombay. Aiiyoite who Im
bctn dost' in them tamiot but ftcl ilL'qily that the pcKiicst are the least
of tnij- ijfople. rliis feeling I huee irted to letay and J make no
a|K)]ngie!. for reprey^ntiiig hi itiis voiiiine only the ivouieii.

Our |>n}iid old eivilisattoii systeiiiatitally rlegrades woman. It coiii|jleiel\'
<lcntes lier any liccdom and it cannot be said that it encourages her charm
and yotuh. But I did not hucml tliese (jhotngiaphs to l»ear out the old story
of the sat). Slid Indian woman at all. She can l>e as gay as anyone vvouUt
like her to l>e and she is bright enough, lieanttful awl semtial enough to
inspire lier men to live, I have often wanted to compile her pkiurcs into a
l>ook.

t am giateful to all the people—tliey are loo itianv to he nauied here—
w'ho took me to jieasaiu homes in dilTereiii pins of the courury and made it
|>ossilile for me to take these photographs.

foreword by Kim Christen

Ask lilt* avonigc nian abixxiil: vvhai ii [mliar ii«d he will say dial il is the
Malwl, nr iliai it is a busief xvith ii sCTaggy-tictkefl vulture (m the bmU'ti
roof: be ivill say dial Imlia is a fat felhw sttiing in a |jair of stales balatidng
a jjan of gold and jiieclotis stones, or that it is a leper at large a garbage
pile in the hungry toiwpiniy of dogs and crows: he wil! say tbai India is a
princess, bejcwcllCTl and most beatiliftil or tbai ii is ihe brown bones of a girl
in a Calcutta gut ter at whose leatbcm breasts a babe dryly sucks and sups.

India, you xvill be told, is a land of exireines. .And how shall anyone
abroad ever know otherwise wliile the face and the lignre of this coiitury is
invariably preseiiterl in oiic of these two ways: |jahucd, exotic, often
debatichctl by wealth anti excessive saiisfactions, or, alternatively, jxxir beyoivtl
imagining, |ii(iable to the jioint of horror, miserable, nialshapen, monstrous?

it is always one thing or the other. In India there is no nonnalty it would
seem. No mkldlc w'ay lieiween fainess and fainttie. riches and wretchedness.

Ikii these photographs are also of Indian people. And these people, il is
clalinctl. more projjcrly represent India than any rajah who ridiculously

jstniiji t>esk1« a licacl tiger or any beggar iliat nails ti[>f>n a city paveitiem^
for these people provide by far the greater |}art of the comma’s Four Fumdreid
and itiore liiillioiis.

■|‘hest' [Krojile are inaterially poor, btit this is not so oiiiy Irecaitse they are
fntlians; it is also because they are peasants and labourers, xind that is tbe
way of tiu‘ world it sceim. Yet, in spite of being bodi poor and Indian,
their bellies do not tlap with famine and their eyes aix‘ surely bright.

So far there has been shown only the sad face of India. Rut dccjjer
than the ixligions and the politics that twist their mmds and trotible
their c;tger hetiris. ]>ooptc are imich the same the world over; they laugh
when it is time for laughter atid weep when it is sorrow's season, they
are siidtlen to anger anil ijuick to forgive, someiimes they are seized by
brutal uifKids, sometimes are tidetl over by tcndcTocss- tX'Cply it is the same
with the p(x>r and unschooled the wide worlil over, but so far there has
bcxui shown otdy die one half of the Indian heart.

Here is the other. Here arc happy Inilians. pkiiiip and smiling and
]>roHil with life. These [jcoplc’s lives have their full share of sorrow, fjtit
here they are shotvn in their more merry moods siiux* ahnost everywhci'c
else they have been shown only (niserable.

So here then arc no lcj>crs, child-tV ives, temple harlots, crazy loons. Here
arc |Kio]>le that are simtghi of limb and sound of mind, AtuI they are
fiidians. Onlinary Indians who live only ordinary lives, the men amongst
them waking with an early sun, working the ilay long in iheir fields and
W'tien die sun shows red on the hills, walking Konie to the company of friends,
sitting down then to have food and ilrink, It'ing down later to know' love
and the sighing liody and a well earned sleep at last.

It is a sinijile day, hut it must seem to ask ati exiraortlinary' strength
of the women amongst them; those who smile from these pages. The peasant
woman must Ire the lirsi from sleep; she must crouch over the fire and
feed her family; later she must bend her back In the ticlds and later

in

reuini to the village, again to the smoking fire and tlic meal making. And
when the brass pots are bright again she is free then to giv'e her month to-
some lover in a thicket, or her breast to a child at home, or her body to a
husbantl whose hungers are of many kinds.

To a man in a city such as I, it must seem burdensome to be an Indian
peasant ’vvomart, and yet they ap|>ear to smile more readily titan their urban
sisters who arc saved by civilized comforts from the full treight of lieing
tv omen.

M'he people in this book are all women. There are at least four reasons
for this; the photographer, iJte jniblisher, the designer and the present
WTiter. They are all men. And men like to Ux>k at women. The selection
is based upon considerations that are no mote—.tnd no less—noble than that.

Of all those uliti are responsible for this book 1 am the only one with
a wliitc skin, yet I am as eager as any about it if oitly because it provides,
some cvitletice for thtKie arguments 1 sotneiimes enter in defence of India
as I know it and love it; a ilefencc that is made Imth here and abroad
against those who mean to sing India's praises.

India, such persons insist, is a spiritual land, and for love of India
I strenuously deny it since 1 kitow that by 'spirit* they mean only w'hat is-
bloodless and bereft of life: they mean solemn words and eyes averted from
the green and scarlet eartii; they say ‘spirit’ and show only cold, incapable,
hearts; they say ‘purity* and show only poverty of impulse,

So 1 am always eager to aiMure such j>crson.s of Jtulia's sensual life.
But they are tinbelieving and when I speak of the body of India they
nuiniuu': Maya.

1 am not one to know of such things, but if the body is an illusion, it
is a sweet illusion surely. And if I am still an infant in my utidersunding
of such things. I cannot yet be fjeisuadcd against live body any more than
a child can he persuaded against the pleasure it finds in the shadow

ttiai tlatices on itif citidlc, or than a lunatic can be persuaded against
tlic dream that w:ricls him dancing down the grey streets, or than a lover
can lie persuaded against the feeling that Ids hint (tiid in the prose of some
jditin girl’s presence, rainbou’s and leaping hsh. the softness of doves, all the
flowers and fruits of summer.

The hotly is a sweet illusion 1 say, and I would wish to be left with my
Infant igtioi'imce, tny mad dance, my blind love if the eliding of the illusion
is to leave me mean and miseniblc as these wise men seem to Ije,

What is u'istlom u hen foolishness means (lowers in the hand?

.So 1 am glad of this honk l>ecause it shows that India has a body too,
anti that this country whose sun first saw me is not inhabited by otjly sun*
less persons: those wlio bruise their Ijtxlies with idealism and those who
love a word more than a world and argue througli llic flay and the Jiight
witlunil ever kjtowing llnit the sun is warm upon itie shoulders or that the
sky is ever pricked by stais.

India is already urn welt known for its mental and physical emaciates. It
warms me to sec that these women of India arc lovely llcsh and lively blood.

A bit too llesh atul blotnl for stimc it seems, for 1 am told that there
are some who will blush at die breast of a girl such as is shown here, it is
hard to realize, but I am assured that it is so. The photographer himself has
been accused of uncovering the charms of the coastal girl shown here, and
I know of ail anihropologicil W'ork that brought letters of abuse and
acciiviiion to its autlurr because the persons under study belonged to a
irilie that sasv no need to put a doth between the bright sun anti the breasts
of their svonien.

Such 'pure' protests accompany pornography. Behind the back of every
solemn prude and puritan is a sly man selling 'lilthy pictures*. It is the
'purity' of such persons that makes pornography so gainful a trade. The
Kime fear of life that inspires these praicsts, inspires those impotents tvho

do noi dare to have the whore they hunger after and who ilicrefore
seek a safer saiiskciion in the naked pages of a ‘Naiwrist* magazine or a
eollectiun of 'Art Studjes*.

Surely disfioiiesty is the only indceetity.

These pictures are not 'art studies'; iJicse people are not 'naturists'.
Wherever unclothed, they are so by iiatiiiiil habit, they have not taken off
their clothes for any base or ideal end. And If there is here—as there seems
in some instance!!—any evidence of conscious posturing, it b a dilferent sort
of display to that indulged by those photographer's imxlels who offer their
dolMike bodies as examples of the 'female fornt divine.

The girl from Malabar shown here is not posing for an artist; it is for
a man that she twists and smiles and tttnis ami w’ordlcssly ssays. Ant 1
not beautiful?

It is not art, but more nearly relaietf to tluit motive which opens the
champa Hower and lights the scarlet lovehes of the coral tree; that causes
coloured lish to chase each other round the of C'-oiiioriii, and goats

to leap gay ujxm the tnoiintaim when the melting snows ainiouircc spring
in Kashmir.

ft is the way trf the natural worlil, the way of the moon tvith a wave,
the svay of a maid witlt a man.

/; Peasattt girl

from the eastrrn Uottrrl Provinces.
J foitttii her among
ti group of hanmters
on n late sumtHer morning.

5." Rigfit: Ldtuhadi in a train.

2/ Dei hi text Hr umrker.

4: Mikir tiihnl fieoffh’ from .-isnim.

They were someielutt i muceAsible

hut nil (he Itilh inul valleys

} htift to t:wss seettietl

fj stntifl eooiigh f/rire

far the gity f / lontuK

A**

i; Ctiri from Etiaf/tti, Mofiihnr.
At thr do\*s ntd
I SHU' a g'roK^ of childrru
Hint this girl
romiitg tloivii thf road
rarry'ing shells from the seashore
for four annas it day.
aite was shy at the start.

6 : MftsUm ptnsant girl, United Provinces,

7: Warii prasatit jf/W, Maharastrinn trihe.

8; Left; Kitxhiiitri girl with a water fiot

p.* ,'thajie: Ftinjahi village xkoemaker‘s davgktet

ro: Ctypsies /row the Frontier.

.*f//e’r a visit to

University an the onhkirts of Delhi
t sau> a group of ItantJsome,
filthy, happy chitdrcn tind followed
them to a tattered camp.

The men xtfcre sitspictoits at first
bill later allonied me to photoginph
their leomcn also.

//: Garo girl from the horderx
of Assam atid licngal,

Shr had come lioiatt from
the hiih fm' the ireekly tm/it.

;2; Riot 7t;fngees itt Cotnilla catnpt
/ Jflit' tills girt ainotig thif inuny
exhtuiiled groufn come from Noitlthtili.
f did not ^jinsk to hfr
but iUmbtle.'is her stor\' kbs
as all the others

a tale of bloodshed amt hurut homes,
of the terror of a girl

Vfheti iiiett nroumt go mad and
hax'ing only this fright in the stomach
to give strength for flight.

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.-1 A/iVi girl from .damn

i^: Ralpnt girl, hnlmlruil xvorkvr iu n Delhi slum

ly. Rajput girt. Industriat Xi>orker ia d Delhi shim

i 6 : Molik pemmt She xvas a Uttk
shy at the staTt, She hud a floxeet hi hef
hand. I suggested she fftit it in her hair.
She did so uttd hroke into laughter,
tj: Right: Sikh girl from Punjab,

iS: Pt'iismit girt from £diit»il. Mntabttr.
She jvtilltt'd so ffrouiUy (iittl
upon ttty suggest toil
easily assumed this iitiiludef
situ unit erect with upward eves,
t took this photograph from
low angle to
nnphnsize her t'hnmier.

/ 9 * Ciirl from Mafaftparnm, Alnlnhar^

Site tvas ttot at alt shy and

fiiiiy fdi the importance of her beauty,

standing in the middle of an

admmng circle tcith a man from

the city apparently come all

the many miles to immortalize her.

2o: Kmhmiri girl fmm Uir iMhh vuUtr^
21: Righti Gujfvuti fisher girL I was
leiih Marginet HiHirkr-Uhltt, the *Life
ffbotogfiipher, HV found this girt /ii
fbr murkrt (ihice uml xve both look
set^trni shols of bei\

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U'or/i tribal girl, iMahar,

2 5: (i««> /rorn n Turry primitivr iriht

far into thr fiith nf

36: Giiferalf fisher folk.

1 took a tiuinher of phtiiographf
unhnoien lo them; iftcy were
ivntching Margaret Hojirke-Whiie
at work. The yoting ghi
wm particularly striking.

Nrpttit giri from Kttlitnftottg.

2t?,- Hftmhay working homewift.

2;#: H'orkrrs rm a rottcfiix'e farm
in Kitmn Kttval, M(ilahm\

I he lields (ay auiste for leant of lenter.
The fteoiattlA orgtouxetl thent>rhfe\
f$»d fntmfted xeufer to the phur:
they worked together teilh gxeal joy.
\hared the ^neeot and the
rexearding hardest a?ui gaiu‘ no
grain to fatten m ttUe rctuoiiiv
/ am reminded of the Song for the
apatiixh JnntrhixlA try Iterhert Rend:
Fifty men own the lemon grooe
and no matt h a xltn^e.

?«.' A/y.>f>»r rnothrr and ffdld.

rile rnany jjiWii /wh nfe*rf

?/; Zi/g/i/r (iraftdmaiJitT and f^ifnnh/n/d

Jii /I rr/iV/ rrH/rr diir/itg ///t' /f/nt/nr

of Tfi^' Imd just rt'cnjvd

uetv chtftffi amt n^aiird nfton

a fmmme of milk.

bfii' ■ <M

Hajfnig gtrl. Mymrnfingb dhtrict.

??* Highi: JVorti girl, AUthamsfrian 'frihr.

hintlimh’i ffCHMiiit from a vUlrigc
tteny Hauiiiimm town.

/ rcnti'mhi!}' nmny atuflowcrs

mttl lln’ (fiiickty fading

t'twning tight on the him^eft fietfls ...

55* Left: Pmsani gir/ /ram Lolnb VnUey^ Kttabmir. jrf; Ahmei Kachm tribal ^tI, Assam.

1

J7.' I'isbt‘r girli
from KhattnJwada
in the market fdiice
atui on the shore.

^ t.

^ 8 : Satiitii girl^ Hihar.

She eatite tarrying the.tr hgs
hut n>a.t very ready ta
pvt them tiojini and hr
phatogrophrd. / felt from
I hr intrrext in her and
the approval J got from
the eniuut that soon gathered
that she teas a fm>ourite
in the viiiagej which teas
ensiiy j indeist a 11 dah }r.

StiiHfil mot he a tind child.

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41; Hajifiig girh fmthtng In Somnwari rivfr.

I'hey ii*rrr somcii>hat ffnbarrmscii fcv

my coming hut n little tlnfett-ye.ar

old hoy until me homed them into hrJtiming

more naturally; In a It tile tvitilr they

laughed again and took uft

the fday that / had interrupted.

Prnsinii girl from Motdbnr.

/

L / s r o F r // o T o a r a f h s

Frtisfiiit rmtrd Frovittfr^ Pi.ATt svMmR

/V//ir li^xtitr ii'orkrr
Ijiwhafii in n hmn

.\fikir fribfil fmm photogmpfu)

Girl fmm Etlupt^l, Mninifar

Muilim prn%arii fairly Unit^ii Pnmnrt^ *->

KVir/i ffrnMint flirt ^ Xtnfmr/ntrifitt tribe *.,

Kmhtiifi gift uuth n water pot

Fttnjain villngr Atormakefs daughter

iiyp^inf fmm tile Fmutier phfiUigmptn f

fifiro gii'i from the honiers of Asmm and Uengnf

Hiot tefugeex in Comitlu ramp

Mill gill (mm

Rajput gift^ induitriai wmkri
Rajput girt, iududriat teorker
Mt^pta peftifint giit ...

Sitfh j^rt from Punfah

Peamut girt Imm luiupaL MMfihar

lUft from Mithipparum. Mahthm ptuAogmptn}

Kashmiri girl ftotn the Lotah vatiry

Gujerati fi^hrr girt

ft'iii/f tribal girtf Malmradra

Prauiut girh fwm ftadi^ United Prmtinees

tirngati Muslim jute u'orkrP^ dmighter fj ptn^iographi)

Giiro girt tnini Assam

(•ujerati fisher folk fy phofogtnphsl

Xepafi girl from Knlimpimg

Jiomimy umrking chu housrudfe

IVorkrtA nn a roiiertive farm in Kauan Kami, Mnhbar

Mysdie muther and rhitd

lietfgati grandmother and grandrhiht ...

Hajftng girt, Mvmeitsingh
fiVjr/f girt. Maharmlriftn tnbe
Ktnhtniri peasant gif t

Peasant girt fTtim the Lotah imttey, Kashmir

Karhari trilmt girtf .^.i,uTt;p

Pisher girh from KhaUnlwnda f2 photograph))

Santal girt^ Pihitr photographs}

Santat mother and rhitd

Santal gift and rhitd, Bihai photographs)

fiftfnug girls hailting in Someswaii river (4 phologrnphs}

Peasant girt from Malabar

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